What is the future of home networking?

We learned what Verizon customers envisioned for their home networks, and what they didn't know they could do. Our discovery and fixing of usability issues decreased tech support calls, and the data gathered informs Verizon's ongoing customer education and support initiatives.

Project: Verizon Home Networking installation and continuous improvement
Services: Contextual Inquiries, User Interviews, In-home Usability Testing
Deliverables: Research Reports, User Requirements, Conceptual Model

The Challenge: In 2004, Verizon’s wanted to understand how their customers felt about home networking, what kinds of networks they had in their homes, if any, and what their future networking plans were. Verizon’s team also wanted to make sure their home networking services and products were easy to set up.

The Method: We conducted in-depth field studies and interviews with Verizon’s customers. We went to their homes and listened to them as they showed us their networks, or lack thereof, and talked about networking, what they wanted to know, and what they would like to do. We also watched users setting up home networks. We video-taped, gathered data, and analyzed it. We also met a few nice house pets.

The Results: The data we gathered was fascinating. It was interesting to find that users didn’t consider using a wireless Internet router with their single laptop a “network.” We also learned what users were interested in, what knowledge was lacking, and what usability issues currently existed. With these findings, we were able to fix the problems customers were having with setting up their equipment, thereby reducing calls to technical support. We also used the data to create user requirements for online and CD-ROM home networking tutorials, on which we conducted usability testing, and contributed to Verizon's user-centered knowledge base still in use today. We were able to create a conceptual model which represented the cycle of customer education and purchasing. The results: you're experiencing them yourself every time you set up a Verizon home network!